A/N: Yeah, I have no business starting a new fic when I can't even finish what I have in progress. I know. But I had to get this out. If you guys are interested in reading more, show me your love! I'd like to explore this AU.

I promise that this is a DE story, but I want to be upfront that Elena begins the story in a relationship with someone else. Bear with me. We'll get there.

Lastly, I think it goes without saying that these are not my characters, just my plotline. :)


Elena glanced at her wedding photo on her desk and reminisced about that day. It was a day when everything had gone right. She'd married a beautiful guy in a beautiful dress in a beautiful church. Today marked one year and she was ready to get home to her husband. Her boss, Katherine, had taken a half-day so she thought she might sneak out a little early. It was only 3 o'clock , but who would know? That was one of the perks of working at a small interior design firm. Her only other co-worker was Bonnie and she obviously wasn't going to tell anyone.

As she packed up her bag and started to turn off her computer, she saw one more email pop up in her inbox. Elena didn't recognize the email address and it didn't have a subject, but she opened it anyway.

Lena -

The band is going to be in town this weekend and I want to see you. I'll leave 2 VIP tickets at the box for you and a friend. We'll be at the Lincoln Theater on Saturday night. Show starts at 9.

- D

She gulped. "Well that wasn't the email I wanted to end my Friday with," she said to herself under her breath.

"What'd you say?"

Elena jumped a little as she looked up to see Bonnie standing in the door of her office. "Oh nothing. Nothing. I was just thinking about heading home early since it's our anniversary and Katherine isn't here. You know, get an early start to the weekend…" She trailed off as she closed the email and finished packing her things.

Bonnie had known Elena since they were kids in the sandbox. She knew when Elena was trying to cover something up. Elena was definitely hiding something. "If you wait up, I'll pack my stuff and we can sneak out of here together."

"Sure." Elena pulled out her phone and sent a quick text while walking out of her office and into the hallway.

Headed home soon. xoxo – E

She peeked her head into Bonnie's office. "Ready?"

"More than ever," Bonnie smiled as she grabbed her bag and moved toward the light switch to turn off the big overhead light.

They took the elevator in silence to the parking lot. Bonnie was unsure what to say without sounding like she was prying. Elena wanted to tell Bonnie about the email and everything that went with it, but she couldn't just unload all of that on her wedding anniversary.

Finally Bonnie decided to say something as they stepped out of the elevator doors. "Got any plans this weekend?"

"Ummm, dinner tonight at our restaurant then I don't know." She thought about mentioning Saturday, but she just couldn't. "What about you?"

"Jeremy wants to drag me to some concert Saturday at the Lincoln Theater. I'm not particularly looking forward to it, but he says the band is great." Bonnie had been dating Elena's brother for about three years. Elena was the one who had gotten him into the music scene to begin with, dragging him to concerts since he was 13 when she was supposed to be babysitting. Eventually he picked up drumming and he never looked back.

She pulled out her keys and tried to keep her cool. "I think it's The Ravens that are playing. Should be a good show." She reached for her car handle as Bonnie kept walking to her car.

"Wait a minute?!" She spun around. "The Ravens? Didn't you used to see basically all of their shows back in the day before they made it big?" Bonnie practically screamed. "You guys should double date with us!"

"Errr, I'll think about it. I don't know if we have other plans or not." She opened her door to get in.

"Just call me or text me and let me know!" Bonnie yelled as Elena climbed in and closed her car door.

"That could've gone a little better, Elena," she mumbled to herself once she was in the safety of her car. She didn't realize she'd be holding her breath under she finally released it. Now all she had to do was figure out a way to get out of this potentially awkward situation.


"I'm home!" Elena yelled into the house as she opened the door and stepped into the foyer. She saw his car in the driveway so she knew he was probably in his office working on his novel.

"In the office, babe!" he yelled back.

She sat her things down, kicked off her heels, and made her way through the house. As she rounded the corner into the office, she could see candles flickering in the shadows and started to hear their wedding song playing in the background. "Matty, I…" she started to say as she walked in, but was taken aback by the sight before her.

Besides the candles and the music, he'd covered the room in vases of white gardenias. Her wedding bouquet was made of them. He was leaning on the corner of the desk with one in his hand, wearing a gray sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows paired with his thick black-rimmed glasses, and with his blonde hair perfectly messed up. He'd definitely been writing all day. She could tell he'd been running his hands through this hair and she desperately wanted to do the same.

Someday when I'm awfully low and the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you…

The start of the lyrics snapped her out of her daze. Matt made his way towards her and handed her the flower. "Happy Anniversary, babe. I thought we might go to dinner at our place tonight, but maybe we could dance together first?"

All Elena could manage was a nod as she accepted the stem with one hand and his hand with the other. This was what marriage was supposed to be like, effortless and easy with the perfect man in the perfect house.

The rest of the night was just as great as the beginning. Matt had reserved the best table at L'endroit, the French place where they had their first date almost two years ago. They filled dinner with conversation about the great memories they'd made together, how Matt's writing was going, Elena's latest zany client who wanted her whole house done in turquoise, and mostly the future they planned on having. Eventually, the laughter and smiles died down.

As they waited for dessert, Matt broke the comfortable silence. "Jeremy called me while you were on the way home from work. Something about a concert tomorrow night? Bonnie wants us to go with them."

Elena wasn't sure how to answer this. She'd never really lied to Matt before. They didn't have that kind of relationship, but she wasn't ready to really share that part of her life with him just yet. She'd been a different person back then. So she did the best thing she could. She danced around the subject. "Yeah, Bonnie mentioned it earlier when we were leaving work. It's a good chance that the tickets are sold out, though."

"Well we could try scalpers? Or I could look for tickets online?" Matt prodded.

Elena could already see she wasn't getting out of this so she admitted defeat. "Yeah, I bet we could do that."


She spent the whole day Saturday a nervous wreck. How was she going to pull this off? How could she separate her past life and her previous life when the two insisted on colliding head first?

Matt had been in his office all day. Apparently he was feeling really inspired after last night and he wanted to get it down on paper before they left for Lincoln Theater in a few hours. Elena was working on making a small dinner for them when her phone rang.

"Elena! Let's make plans. What time do you want us to come pick you up? We should get there a little early so you and Matt can snag some tickets." It was easy to tell that Bonnie was now buzzing with excitement. She lived for double dates.

Elena giggled, her earlier nervousness disappearing and replacing itself with excitement too. It'd been awhile since she'd hung out with Bonnie outside of work. "Well it's about a 30 minute drive and the show starts at 9 so I was thinking we leave around 8?

"Perfect! Jeremy and I will swing by and pick you up then. Make sure you're ready!" With that, Bonnie hung up the phone. No doubt she had a lot of outfit options she'd need to try on before she was ready to go.

Elena glanced at the clock and realized they'd need to be ready to leave in a little over an hour. She wanted to look nice and she told herself that it was for her husband, but if she was being a little bit honest maybe she wanted to look nice for him too. Walking down the hall with a plated dinner in her hand, she knocked on the office door.

"Babe?" Matt called. "Come on in."

She opened the door and sat the plate down on the desk for him before leaning in to give him a kiss. "How's the writing going?"

He took a bite of his sandwich and with a mouth half full replied "Good. I can't get past this one part, but I feel like the words will come pouring out again once I do."

She smiled. He really was a brilliant writer. "That's great, Matty. Do you think you'll be able to get to a good stopping point and be ready to go by 8? Bonnie and Jeremy are going to pick us up on the way there."

"Yeah, of course…" he trailed off as he started typing again and she knew she'd lost his attention.

"Matt? Earth to Matt Donovan?" she waved her hand between him and the computer screen.

"Sorry! Yes?" he turned his eyes toward her and gave her that genuine mega-watt smile that made her fall for him in the first place.

"8 o'clock? Ready to go?" she asked.

"Sure thing, babe. On the dot."

And that was enough for her because one thing Elena knew about Matt was that if he said something, he meant it.


"Okay, so I guess we need to find a scalper, right Gilberts? You guys are the music experts here," Bonnie said as she walked up to the theater. Elena may have been a Donovan now in name, but she would always feel like a Gilbert at heart.

True to form, Matt had been ready at 8 o'clock sharp. Elena went through five different outfits before she settled on a dress that had been in the back of her closet for two years. It was black, tight, and short with geometric cutouts on the sides. Nothing like what she would wear to work these days, but exactly what she would have worn to a show pre-Matt Donovan. She'd paired it with some black motorcycle boots. She knew better than to try to mosh in heels.

"Let's try the box office first. The scalpers always more than double the prices." Elena grabbed Matt's hand and led him through the crowd waiting outside. She was so excited to be back in the scene that she temporarily forgot what was waiting on the stage for her.

"Do you have any tickets left? Preferably in the pit?" she said to the ticket guy. She knew Jeremy would have only bought pit tickets for himself and Bonnie.

Without looking up and as unenthusiastic as possible, the guy replied with "All we got left are way in the back. I can get you those. How many?"

Elena bit her lip as she looked back at her group. She really wanted to be in front with her brother and best friend. She knew she could be, but she'd have some explaining to do. "What about something reserved for Elena Gilbert?" she tried. Matt nudged her and gave her a confused look. She shrugged.

The guy looked up at her and then back down at a list he had next to him. "Yeah, I got two VIPs for you." He reached for the two special badges and handed them to her. Elena gave one to Matt and then ushered her friends aside to let the people behind them go next.

"Someone's got the hookup!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"And you said you wouldn't get tickets! What gives, sis?" Jeremy questioned.

Matt just kind of stood there in shock, as he slipped the badge over his neck. "Ugh, babe? Did you just pull some kind of magic?" He must have been too surprised and excited to really question it too much.

Elena tried to play it cool and shrugged. "I used to see The Ravens all the time back when they were just a local band. I still know a couple roadies. I made a couple of calls. Sorry I could only get two VIPs, Jer." No one questioned her story and she sighed in relief.

Everyone made a beeline to the bar and each ordered a beer. Elena chugged hers and ordered a second, figuring the liquid courage would cover whatever might happen next. They filed into the pit just as the first song started. Elena took Matt's hand and Jeremy took Bonnie's. Both Gilberts pushed up front, just like pros, until they were up against the stage.

Elena took the opportunity to look up to the band. The songs may have been the new, the crowd may have been bigger, but the boys hadn't changed a bit.

"Roanoke, thank you for having us tonight. Many of you probably know this is where we got our start. Of course we weren't booking this place back then," Stefan gestured around the big theater and smiled as the crowd cheered. He noticed Elena in the crowd and gave her a small wave. "I see some familiar faces, some faces we haven't seen in a long time are here tonight. Let's rock our faces off like old times guys!"

The Ravens went into their second song of the night and Elena finally locked eyes with him. Those movies where everything around you goes hazy, the noise is drowned out, and all that matters are those two people? That's what happened to her. Every single time she saw him play.

Of course he was dripping sex as he strummed his black guitar. Dressed in his characteristic leather jacket with his wild dark hair going every which way, he gave her a little half smirk that she hadn't seen in far too long. Her heart fluttered and for a minute, she was that 21 year old girl again who desperately loved that man onstage.

Matt squeezed her waist and took her back to reality. She had completely forgot that she was there with other people, most notably that her husband was standing behind her. Luckily, he hadn't seemed to notice a thing. He wrapped his arms around her, gave her a peck on the cheek, and bopped along to the music. Elena spent the next few songs trying her best not to eye fuck Damon Salvatore while she danced with Matt.


"We're going to take a small break real quick, guys. We'll be back so don't you go anywhere!" Stefan yelled to the crowd as the guys started to head backstage and another band came on to play a short in-between set.

She turned around to yell into his ear, the only way to communicate this close to the stage. "I'm going to grab another beer! Want one?" He nodded and off she went, kissing him before she squeezed her way through the crowd.

Truthfully, she really just needed to catch her breath. She ran past the bar and directly out to a back alley, desperate for some fresh air. Leaning against the brick wall of the building, she tried to regain some composure. Surely she could handle herself for The Ravens second set and then this night would be over. She could go back to her perfect life.

"You know when I said bring a friend, I didn't mean bring a date, Lena." And there it was. The voice. The nickname. The goosebumps. Him.

Elena looked up as Damon came strolling towards her, taking a long drag from his cigarette. She squared her shoulders, positive that he wouldn't see past her cold demeanor. "He's not a date. He's my husband. We're married, Damon. I've moved on."

He took the final step toward her and pushed a stray hair behind her ear. He let out a low chuckle. "You're kidding me, right?"

She pushed him backwards a little, not enough to knock him down but just enough to create some distance. "Actually, I'm not. I married the love of my life and I am really happy."

"You're lying, Lena. You waited for me, didn't you?" He kept laughing.

Elena was starting to get annoyed. He wasn't listening. He didn't want to hear what she was saying. 30 seconds reunited and they were already arguing. "First of all, no one calls me that anymore. Second of all, I waited a year for you. You didn't return my calls after awhile. What was I supposed to do? I moved on. Now it's been three years and you want to pick back up? I don't think so, Damon. I put this part of my life behind me!" She was waving her hands and pacing around the alley like a crazy person. No matter how many times she practiced this speech in the mirror over the past two years, she still wasn't ready.

"D! Let's go! We need you!" Stefan stuck his head outside and called for his brother.

Damon put out his cigarette, gave Elena one last devilish look, and joined Stefan inside.

Maybe saying goodbye for good wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.


A/N: I wanted to get a lot of character establishment done in this chapter. If you all think it's worth continuing, I'd like to do some flashbacks to when Elena knew Damon before in between what's going on the present. I have a lot of ideas and I'm really excited to hear what you think!